In Elite Era for RF, All-Star Mookie Betts Holds His Own

Betts was all smiles north of the border.

Does Mookie Betts belong in the same class as Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge when talk turns to baseball's top right fielders? Ask Blue Jays fans who had their Canada Day weekend ruined by the newly-named All-Star.

After performing for two months this season below the Silver Slugger offensive standard he set as the American League MVP runner-up in 2016, Boston's five-tool standout has heated up -- capped by a 4-for-6, 2-homer, 8-RBI performance Sunday as Boston completed a weekend sweep of the Jays.

Since his average fell to .261 on June 2, Betts has hit .330/.406/.583 over his past 28 games to help the Red Sox to an 18-10 record and first place in the East. He's scored 24 runs during that period, thanks in large part to 11 doubles and 6 homers, and has contributed his usual Gold Glove defense.

Betts does like Dewey.

His efforts Sunday even gave Betts a franchise record: most RBI in one game by a leadoff hitter. He leads the AL with 27 doubles, and if you factor in his 15 stolen bases, he's now on pace for a 30-homer, 30-steal, 100-RBI season.

It would be ridiculous to claim anybody other than Judge was the league's top player for the first half of 2017, and even the biggest Red Sox fan would admit Mike Trout was a deserving MVP pick over Mookie last year.

But in an era stacked with outstanding right fielders like Judge, Harper, Giancarlo Stanton, and Toronto's Jose Bautista, Betts is every bit as deserving of an All-Star nod as the rest.

Now Joe Dombrowski needs to figure out how to sign the 24-year-old superstar to a long-term contract. Betts has been working on one-year deals so far, but this could lead to an astronomical payday when he's free agent-eligible after the 2020 season.

Not since the Aaron-Clemente-Kaline days of the 1960s has the right field position been this stacked. Those Hall of Famers all played at least 15 years with their original team, and it would be great if Betts could too.

Win the Triple Crown and not the MVP? Ted Williams did it– TWICE

Ted didn't always fly high with MVP voters.

With the AL MVP Award announcement coming later today, talk has heated up about whether Miguel Cabrera or Mike Trout should take home the hardware. Tigers fans who believe the Triple Crown should cinch the honor for Cabrera shouldn't be so fast to celebrate.

Ted Williams, a Hall of Famer acknowledged by many as the greatest hitter who ever lived, twice led the American League in homers, runs batted in, and batting average during the same season -- and was runner-up in the MVP race both times. 

In 1942, Williams hit .356 with 37 homers and 137 RBI, topping the majors in all three categories and helping the second-place Red Sox to their most wins (93) in 27 years. Long before sabermeterics came on the scene, Teddy Ballgame was tops in OBP (.499), OPS (1.147), and WAR (10.2) as well, in each case distancing the field like Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes.

It wasn't good enough. In a vote that shows even mid-20th century sportswriters didn't always choose the guy with the gaudiest "traditional" numbers, Williams was runner-up to Yankees second baseman Joe Gordon for MVP. 

Ted will forever rank among baseball's best.

A future Hall of Famer in his own right, Gordon hit .318 with 18 homers and 103 RBI, and was strong if not spectacular in the field. New York did win its second straight AL pennant, but Gordon was far from a one-man gang with Joe DiMaggio and Charlie Keller preceding him in the Yankees lineup. 

Some blamed the vote on Williams' sour relationship with the press, but the unfairly lofty expectations fans and sportswriters had for Ted undoubtedly played a part. He hit .406 in 1941, after all, so .356 was considered quite a drop-off. (Ironically, Williams finished second in the MVP race to Joe DiMaggio in '41, when Joe D. put together his 56-game hitting streak.)

Five years later, in 1947, it happened again. Williams paced the AL with 32 homers, 114 RBI, and a .343 average, along with otherworldly OBP (.499) and OPS (1.133) totals. The Red Sox, however, finished a disappointing third after winning the AL pennant in 1946 -- when Williams did win the MVP. 

The Yankees finished first in '47, as in 1942, and as in '42 a New York player (Joe DiMaggio) took home the MVP with far more modest (.315, 20, 97) totals. Joe D. was certainly a superior defensive outfielder to Williams, and was clearly the leader of his team, but the vote still seems unfair then and now. 

While legend long dictated (and Ted long thought) that a Boston sportswriter left Williams completely off his 10-man MVP ballot, this was actually not the case. As historian Glenn Stout later uncovered, Williams appeared on 23 of the 24 ballots, and it was a Midwestern writer who deemed him unworthy of his Top 10. 

Joe D. beat out Ted twice for MVP.

It's hard to imagine anyone thinking that 10 players had a better season than Williams in '47 or for that matter Cabrera this year. Just how many voters believe Mike Trout's overall performance as a hitter, fielder, and base runner makes him more valuable than a Triple Crown winner will be the key. 

And if Cabrera is the runner-up? Well, then he should think about finishing just short of a Triple Crown next year. Williams did that in 1949 -- when he paced the AL in homers and RBI but finished behind George Kell in batting, .34291 to .34276 -- and it was good enough for his second MVP honor.